Feeling old comes from children growing up

Published: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 4:16 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 4:16 p.m.

During this season of graduations and end of school awards, the thing that keeps coming back to me over and over again is I am growing old.

Nothing makes you feel like the crypt keeper more than seeing a child who used to be a chubby toddler clinging to his momma's knees who is now a six-foot-tall teenager starting high school. I have been having this same experience over and over again every time I run into an old friend.

Sunday we were eating at Christo's when I noticed a friend I had worked with a few years ago. She, of course, was as young and beautiful as ever, but I was shocked by the young man who was sitting beside her. Surely she wasn't robbing the cradle at her tender age of 30-something? But as I looked closer I realized she hadn't exchanged her husband for a younger model, it was her son.

The last time I had seen him, he was about 10 years old and complaining about being bored hanging around with all us grown-ups. Suddenly, he is taller than his mom (which isn't that big of an accomplishment) and talking about taking driver's ed. What the heck happened?

And it's not the first time I've been shocked at how rapidly these children are growing. The son of a close family friend has started shaving, and he's not even out of middle school yet. I knew mentally that he was a teenager, but when someone you remember as a baby starts having a 5 o'clock shadow, things are starting to become weird.

It is happening in my own family, but somehow it isn't as shocking as when it's someone else's child. My son will start middle school, and he had definitely turned into a full-blown tween. My daughter has overnight become too old to have legs as long as hers. I'm constantly going around pulling down the hem of her skirts.

If this is what I'm going through when she's 8, what in the heck am I going to do when she hits puberty? Let's face it, we don't worry half as much about our teenage boys as we do teenage girls.

The worst thing a boy can do is damage some property, get into fights and take up with the wrong crowd. Of course my son is the kind who lives and breathes responsibility, so I have no fear of him going too far off of course.

But my daughter on the other hand is too much like her mother: too willful, too stubborn, too intelligent to listen to anyone, especially her parents. What kind of monster have I created?

It's all my fault. I am the one who encouraged her independence, and I just know she will use it against me. She has a free spirit and a taste for disobedience that has doomed me to perpetual worry mode. She is too intelligent for her own good and has a great head for debate, although at this point it manifests itself in yelling at her brother and slamming doors.

And all of this is before she has had her first boyfriend, although I have seen the warning signs that it's not too far in the future. Lord give me strength.

How is it that when I was her age, years dragged on and on. It seemed like summer vacation would never arrive and lasted forever. Now I'm already amazed that we are one week from the end of June and thinking about when I can squeeze in a quick trip to the beach before school starts back.

I know its a cliché but seriously, how do these children keep growing so fast? Once you become an adult people don't change that rapidly. Yes, we have a few more bulges here and there, and maybe less hair, but overall we just don't change that much.

Children on the other hand can become a totally different person in the span of several months. It is wonderful to see them experiencing new things and becoming independent people, but can't they slow down some? I'm too young to feel this old, and its all because of these darn children.

Sharon Myers can be reached at 249-3981, ext, 228 or at sharon.myers@the-dispatch.com.

<p>During this season of graduations and end of school awards, the thing that keeps coming back to me over and over again is I am growing old.</p><p>Nothing makes you feel like the crypt keeper more than seeing a child who used to be a chubby toddler clinging to his momma's knees who is now a six-foot-tall teenager starting high school. I have been having this same experience over and over again every time I run into an old friend.</p><p>Sunday we were eating at Christo's when I noticed a friend I had worked with a few years ago. She, of course, was as young and beautiful as ever, but I was shocked by the young man who was sitting beside her. Surely she wasn't robbing the cradle at her tender age of 30-something? But as I looked closer I realized she hadn't exchanged her husband for a younger model, it was her son. </p><p>The last time I had seen him, he was about 10 years old and complaining about being bored hanging around with all us grown-ups. Suddenly, he is taller than his mom (which isn't that big of an accomplishment) and talking about taking driver's ed. What the heck happened?</p><p>And it's not the first time I've been shocked at how rapidly these children are growing. The son of a close family friend has started shaving, and he's not even out of middle school yet. I knew mentally that he was a teenager, but when someone you remember as a baby starts having a 5 o'clock shadow, things are starting to become weird. </p><p>It is happening in my own family, but somehow it isn't as shocking as when it's someone else's child. My son will start middle school, and he had definitely turned into a full-blown tween. My daughter has overnight become too old to have legs as long as hers. I'm constantly going around pulling down the hem of her skirts. </p><p>If this is what I'm going through when she's 8, what in the heck am I going to do when she hits puberty? Let's face it, we don't worry half as much about our teenage boys as we do teenage girls. </p><p>The worst thing a boy can do is damage some property, get into fights and take up with the wrong crowd. Of course my son is the kind who lives and breathes responsibility, so I have no fear of him going too far off of course. </p><p>But my daughter on the other hand is too much like her mother: too willful, too stubborn, too intelligent to listen to anyone, especially her parents. What kind of monster have I created?</p><p>It's all my fault. I am the one who encouraged her independence, and I just know she will use it against me. She has a free spirit and a taste for disobedience that has doomed me to perpetual worry mode. She is too intelligent for her own good and has a great head for debate, although at this point it manifests itself in yelling at her brother and slamming doors.</p><p>And all of this is before she has had her first boyfriend, although I have seen the warning signs that it's not too far in the future. Lord give me strength.</p><p>How is it that when I was her age, years dragged on and on. It seemed like summer vacation would never arrive and lasted forever. Now I'm already amazed that we are one week from the end of June and thinking about when I can squeeze in a quick trip to the beach before school starts back. </p><p>I know its a cliché but seriously, how do these children keep growing so fast? Once you become an adult people don't change that rapidly. Yes, we have a few more bulges here and there, and maybe less hair, but overall we just don't change that much. </p><p>Children on the other hand can become a totally different person in the span of several months. It is wonderful to see them experiencing new things and becoming independent people, but can't they slow down some? I'm too young to feel this old, and its all because of these darn children. </p><p>Sharon Myers can be reached at 249-3981, ext, 228 or at sharon.myers@the-dispatch.com.</p>